martinT

Having found the location there's one more obvious question - what was the likely working shown? A local train out of Swansea Victoria, possibly push-pull, but what was its likely destination? Gowerton? Pontardulais? The Llanmorlais branch closed in 1931 so probably before the photo.

Fantastic - I'm sure you've cracked it so thanks Jeremy. Those 2 buildings on the left prove it I think. Also as you say the fencing is similar & the telegraph poles have 4 arms. Undoubtedly double track too! Where did your photo come from BTW?

but see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2210756 for a 1946 photo by Ben Brooksbank of a LNWR Coaltank without SB number plate. Interestingly it seems to be auto-fitted & what is more the photo was taken at Paxton Street Shed, Swansea. It does however have a shedcode plate.

Thanks for the carriage identification. I've now forwarded the photo to the Deganwy History Group in the hope that local knowledege can rule Deganwy in or out.

Thanks for all your suggestions - they've given me more leads to investigate. I wish we could establish whether it was single or double track. I must admit my first reaction was that it was single - bit it's not conclusive & it would rule out Deganwy & the Furness line. Can anyone positive identify the carriages - LMS I believe rather than LNWR (or Furness).

Any idea where this is? My first thoughts were that it might be a train on the Llandudno branch with Deganwy station in the far background where a couple of signals are. However the line seems to swing to the right whereas if Deganwy it should swing to the left! The date is I guess the 1930s & the loco is a LNWR 0-6-2T so if not the Llandudno branch it is likely to be an ex-LNWR line.

Don't worry Mike - It's in hand. A bit later - it's done!

... & they used to include a crossword - often fiendishly difficult I seem to remember. Who can forget: 'Sawn' (4,4)? Obvious really but it caused a lot of confusion at the time!

Found it! It's from the July edition, page 321. The article says that the new system would be in use until 29th September. From John Copsey's article I learn that train 610 pictured below was, in 1939 at least, the 9.30am from Newquay to Paddington. However the feature film 'You only live once' advertised on the billboard was released in 1937 which I guess was the year of Norman Hammond's photo. Numbers did change from year to year so this may be a different train. In 1936 train 610 was the 9am from Penzance (from a 1936 Bank Holiday Special Arrangements publication I have, p65). Norman Hammond was an old guy I used to know in Bristol in the mid-1960s. A life-long railway enthusiast he died in August 1968 - but I regret I don't know whether it was before or after that most significant date - Sunday 11th!

Well, you may have seen it in John Copsey's article 'GWR Passenger Train Identification' in BRJ GW Special No.2 (1985). He quotes from a statement in the GWR Magazine of 1934 (no month given, but will investigate later using GWSoc Online Archive). The numbering system was introduced on 14th July 1934. The article runs to 8 pages which include lists of numbers from 1939 & 1949. The numbers are 16" tall on 20" plates, carried in a frame 3ft wide.

Hoffnung yes, but his brochure suggested french widows offered 'delightful prospects'.

The result looks very odd, there's a photo of it on p76 of David Andrews' monograph on the Moguls. It's credited to Mountford - does it appear in his Caerphilly Works book (which I regret not having)?

Thanks Russ - that's very interesting because it has the 2nd emblem - the only one I know of! Can you give me a reference to the photo so it can be located in future. 6389 looks ex-works so I'm guessing 1957. It only lasted until September 1960 so a relatively early withdrawal for a 63xx. But it still has Inside Steam Pipes (ISP) so if a rebuild of the front end was needed it wouldn't have been authorised in 1960.

My list has photos of lined fenders on: 4358, 6364, 6372, 6385, & possibly 6353 - all with the small 1st emblem. It was certainly short-lived livery variation.

4358 did carry lined green livery with a small 1st emblem. I think I can post this photo as it was posted on ebay 9 years ago: Note that the tender fender is lined too. My list of Mogul photos is here, where the livery is discernable it is given (altho' in later years it wasn't). The list hasn't been updated since Feb 2020: mogul-listing-mjt.xls